Logan, On Her Birthday.

Logan's Twelfth Birthday Cake

After watching Wreck It Ralph, Lo asked for a candy covered cake

A Candy Cart

~MAKE A WISH~

~BIRTHDAY LUNCH ~

~ Enjoying The Restaurant Birthday Song ~

Happy 12th Logan

I prayed:

 "Dear God, if you could allow me a daughter..."

And He did. 

A quite marvelous model too... 

We love our Logan so.

Happy 12th Birthday, LoLeece. 

We Love You. 

So Much. 

~*~ 

Logan Aleece Brewer~Day 1

Cheese Sauce

We tried THIS recipe from Serious Eats:  

• 8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese (or a mix of cheddar and pepper Jack—see note), grated on large holes of a box grater
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
• 2 teaspoons Franks Red Hot or other hot sauce (TheBrewCrew used Sriacha) 

• Add cheese and cornstarch to large bowl. Toss to combine. Transfer to medium saucepan. Add 1 cup evaporated milk and hot sauce. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with whisk until melted, bubbly, and thickened (about 5 minutes). Mixture will look thin and grainy at first but will thicken and come together after heating. Thin to desired consistency with additional evaporated milk. Serve immediately with fries, tortilla chips, burgers, or hot dogs.

Schlotzsky CopyCat Bread & Sandwiches

Schlotzsky CopyCat Bread

It seems that we often end up eating out at sandwich shops. Most of what we order could be done at home, which got me to thinking about why we still go out for sandwiches. I concluded it's probably largely about good bread and decided to try and break through the store bought rut. Decided to start with a "Schlotzsky Copy-Cat" with fairly edible results. Here are the instructions from this recipe and some photos of the two seperate times we have made it so far:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 (1/4 ounce) package yeast
• 3/4 cup lukewarm milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour ( all-purpose will work)
• cornmeal

Directions

1. Stir water, sugar and yeast together and set aside.
2. Dissolve baking soda in 1/2 tablespoon warm water in medium bowl.
3. Add warm milk, salt and 1 cup flour; beat till smooth.
4. Beat in yeast mixture and remaining flour (batter will be thick and sticky, but not as thick as normal bread batter).
5. Spray two pie pans with cooking spray and dust with cornmeal.
6. Divide dough and place in pie pans, cover and let rise for 1 hour.
7. Preheat oven to 375ºF and bake for 20 minutes till golden.
8. Cool 1 hour and cut in fourths.

Using the only pans I had on hand- springform cake pans in varied sizes- gave me a good idea of how much dough to use to create individual sized sandwiches in Bath 2 

Though it ripped, early signs fresh out of the oven pointed towards the texture we were  trying for. 

One of the smaller loaves, with cheddar & strawberry preserves

Using only the sandwich makings we had on hand (not the called for "Original" ingredients, per se) still made for a  tasty sandwich 

The largest loaf made a sandwich for the 3 Big Kids. 

~~~ SECOND BATCH~~~

(this time I substituted about half the flour with whole grain white wheat) 

Used an Ice Cream Sandwich pan this time for smaller, more individual sized portions

Though the cavities in that pan are square, the portions rounded themselves while rising. 

Quality Control Sample
(Rule #1: must be sampled while butter can melt)

Individual sandwich portions

Sandwiches constructed with (most of)  the ingredients found in Schlotzsky's Original

Schlotzsky CopyCat Sandwich

(In addition to the copycat recipe, you can follow the sandwich recipe found here. )

We made a 'close enough' version using a Blimpie Sub Kit from the Deli in lieu of some of the types of salami that we could not find. And Sub Sandwich Dressing instead of the Creamy Garlic in the interest of time. We had the veggies available as options~ but no one wanted to wait for an onion to be sliced, nor a tomato... but next time... and there WILL be a next time... we won't veer off course. 

I Feel Pretty

Riley can reach the make-up drawer now... and she has paid close enough attention to get the general idea. 

When all was said and done, I lifted her to the mirror and said "Aren't you pretty?" 

She said "I'm a mess!" 

Oh, yes.
 She is. 

Family Birthday

She said "I NEED A PARTY HAT!" 

We sometimes call our anniversary a "Family Birthday". Especially during seasons where sitters are scarce and we will be celebrating with the entire family. This was one of those celebrations. We have been very busy with baseball & the business and our family's 'birthday' fell during a particularly Extra Busy Weekend. On Wednesday night, as everyone was busy with Duck Dynasty (I tuned in from my dish washing station in the kitchen) I secretly concocted one of Clay's preferred treats: Jello Cake.

(He's forever in the debt of his mother in law for the passing down of this recipe :) 

One thing about Jell-O cake is that it calls for Whipped topping- an element that always makes for a decorating challenge... a blank, white, slippery canvas to be improved upon. 

I began to rifle through Riley's small plastic toys for something quirky when I came to these two finger puppets. I was quickly inspired to dress them up appropriately for an anniversary cake. It's just some scraps of ribbon and a few pins but it took concerted effort to get everything just so. 

The Family Birthday/15th Anniversary Jell-o Poke Cake: 

When I was in between steps on the cake, I was also secretly working on my special gift to Clay. We have always sort of played with those traditional and modern gift listings- usually picking something with a bit of a twist. According to this year's list, the appropriate gift would be a timepiece or crystal. I figured out a different take on a timepiece and that was the 'serious' gift. But, I couldn't figure out what Clay could really use made out of crystal. Somewhere in the brainstorming process, my brain switched to Krystal. So I made him a tiny Krystal...with real crystal onions. :)~ the 'not-so-serious-or-as-expensive-but-my-favorite' gift"

 Final touches on the tiny burger were finished around 1 AM. There were multiple coats of glaze to be applied, and a crack in the box to repair due to some miscalculations on the thickness of the cheese combined with the thickness of the mustard...

And then- it was cake for breakfast. Jell-o cake never lasts long in this house, nor can those who devour restrain their forks for long.

 The cake was gone almost as quickly as it was made.

 And that is how we kicked off our "Next 15 Years" (just imagining what those years hold...children in college & finding their spouses... maybe even welcoming grandchildren...wild, I tell you. And me?  I'm looking forward to every second of it.